


Dreams of a Desert Girl

by PhantasiaDust



Category: Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Abandonment, Anakin Skywalker Hates Sand, Angst, Anxiety, Child Abandonment, Choking, F/M, First Meetings, Force Bond (Star Wars), Force Dyad (Star Wars), Gen, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, My First Fanfic, POV Rey (Star Wars), Planet Jakku (Star Wars), Pre-Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Rey is Nobody (Star Wars), Separation Anxiety, Short, Short One Shot, Star Wars: The Force Awakens Spoilers, The Force, To Read
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-14 05:53:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29662737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhantasiaDust/pseuds/PhantasiaDust
Summary: Rey is just settling down to rest after a days hard work and no portions to show for it. Instead, she experiences voices and illusions that develop into darkening dreams and a man with an even darker presence..
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 6
Kudos: 10





	Dreams of a Desert Girl

**Author's Note:**

> Hihi!
> 
> Thanks for choosing to read this short story! It's my first post so bare with me whilst I get the hang of how to use this platform😂
> 
> (This piece takes place when we see Rey for the first time in TFA)
> 
> *has elements of anxiety and a fear of falling / drowning, so if you're uncomfortable with that then please we wary*

Curled up within the canvas tent, blanket around her shoulders and head resting against her bag, Rey listened to the subtle breeze rippling against the tent, the sand shifting across the dunes like a soft hissing of a small snake as her eyes closed heavily. The sun was still high on the horizon and the sky was deepening into a blood orange, not a trace of a cloud to be seen for miles. The days scavenge hadn't been too successful but there was a another unexplored wreckage to rummage through and pull apart when tomorrow came around.

Pulling the blanket up to her cheek, she began to fall in and out of sleep when she felt a gentle hand caressing her head and stroking the curls away from her face. She was too weary to open her eyes and thought she was dreaming, letting this soothing motion help her drift further away from the Jakku desert and into the world of her own imaginings.

"How was today's findings? Discover anything exciting?" a strange yet familiar voice echoed in her mind. 

"Not much," she mumbled a reply, "Although I did find a few ancient parts that might be salvageable, but it's never enough for a whole portion." She sighed into her makeshift pillow, ignoring the dull ache of her empty stomach by crossing her arms over her abdomen and pressing into the empty feeling with a groan.

"Go to the Star Destroyer tomorrow, there will be more than enough for you to get a decent meal," the voice advised her positively.

"I'll try," she nodded, suddenly feeling sad and cold, "Are you coming back for me?" she asked a little helplessly. The hand stopped stroking her head and its touch disappeared with its warmth, the presence of the familiar stranger starting to fade.

"Keep searching Rey, just keep searching," the voice quietly dissipated and when Rey opened her eyes, the stranger had gone. It was as if they were never there. She grabbed her water flask and took a small sip to preserve it for tomorrow's venture, convinced that the heat of the Jakku desert had stirred some old illusions in her mind just to spite her for trying to be optimistic.

"I _will_ try," she whispered in frustration as she fell asleep with the setting sun, the coolness of the night making it easier to sleep beneath the blanket, dreaming of the empty promise of a hearty portion of rehydrated bread and soup filling her stomach. ..

~~~

Memories swirled in her nightmares, images of the freighter soaring away through the planet's atmosphere plagued her mind as she yelled up after them.

_Come back!! NO!!_

She felt a strong hand yanking her backwards through the desert, the sand thick around her ankles as she felt torn between chasing after the ship or accepting her new fate upon this unbearably hot planet. Rey struggled, sorrow burning into anger and hatred at being left behind, forgotten, left for scraps as she turned and managed to pull herself from the hand dragging her along.

She stumbled backwards to the ground and found her hands and back slapping hard against the coldness of a black durasteel floor. Hyperventilating in shock, she stared around at the new location, no idea where she was or how this was possible. Then she heard it, the heavy footfalls of someone approaching her from the shadows ahead. They got louder and she curled herself up into a ball, eyes squeezed shut in fear as her body trembled and she muttered to herself to stay calm as they got closer. Dark and dangerous, it loomed over her and yet there was something innocent and helpless about it.

 _Why are you afraid?_ a deep voice asked.

 _They left me alone!_ she cried into her palms, hiding her face as she sensed it getting even closer, walking around her to crouch down beside her head.

 _You're not alone,_ the deep voice replied with such reassurance that she swallowed her tears and looked up at the dark presence. And stared. It was a young man, hair as black as the durasteel and eyes a molten brown so alluring she couldn't stop looking at them.

 _Take my hand,_ he ordered with a nod, his hand outstretched to hers as she gazed at the softness of his palm, the stillness of his fingers. The _warmth_. As she went to take it, the ground began to shake and the floor started to crack, sand coming up through the gaps and burying her inch by inch.

 _Take my hand,_ the voice demanded again, the young man unaffected by the broken ground and sand as he began to rise out of reach. Rey was baffled and confused, clawing at the sand to try and stay afloat but to no avail. She needed to survive, concentrate, _concentrate!_

 _TAKE MY HAND!_ the man shouted at her in anger and disappointment, making her cry and she reached up to him, his fingers millimetres away from her own. She grimaced at the effort and yearned to take it, but for some reason this world wouldn't allow her too.

 _I CAN'T!!_ she cried back and just then the ground gave way completely and she fell with the sand down into a deep and dark pit that never seemed to end. The young man stared down from above, the black walls shrinking as she fell helplessly into this never ending sandy waterfall. More sand fell around her until it suffocated her, the grains making her skin sore and her eyes burn as she flapped her arms and legs about to try and escape. She couldn't breathe, throat filled up with the desert and body trapped beneath the dunes as she landed heavily in the deep with a **crunch** -

"NO!" Rey yelled out dryly, rising viciously from her nightmare with her heart beating dangerously fast in her chest, hands shaking and head covered with sweat. She looked around her for familiarity and was glad to find herself back in the canvas tent, the sun starting to rise from outside giving the canvas an orange hue. Rubbing her face tiredly, Rey proceeded to get up and put down the tent, packing it away in the net-cage on the side of her hand built speeder. Breathing the morning air in through her nose, she squinted back at the rising sun and bit her lip.

 _I will try,_ she promised herself as she kicked the speeder into motion and zoomed off across and over the dunes towards the Star Destroyer wreckage that she had been planning to scavenge next. She should have been making a list of what items to obtain from her daily mission, but instead all she could think about was that young man, and the hand she was so tempted to grasp.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think, elements that you thought were interesting or confusing, any feedback would be great!
> 
> May the Force be with you x


End file.
